Chemawa project restarting

Orange will again be prevalent along Chemawa Road as construction resumes. The work, expected to crank up again next week and last for three months, will go eastward from the intersection of Chemawa and Windsor Island Road. (File)

By CRAIG MURPHYOf the Keizertimes

Just a bit later than expected, the final phase of the Chemawa Road North construction project should be restarted next week.

Completion of the project, which was originally slated to be done in 2012, could happen in July, according to an Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) official.

ODOT is in charge of the project, which has an estimated price tag of $3.5 million.

Both project manager Shane Ottosen with ODOT and Keizer Public Works Director Bill Lawyer said the resumption of the project depends upon the movement of utilities. Delays in that process last year led to only part of the project being done before work was shut down for the winter.

If the utilities get moved this week as planned, Ottosen and Lawyer expect work to pick up again next Monday, April 7.

“It’s tentative, but it could,” Ottosen said of work starting that day. “We’re still waiting on utility issues. There’s some work they want to get done.”

Lawyer said on Monday afternoon Century Link was expected to be done with their relocating that day, with others to be done later in the week.

“The relocates are due to be completed Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning we will be looking them over to see if there are any surprises,” Lawyer said.

Utilities were supposed to be relocated by June 1 last year, but that timeline was missed by a couple of months, in turn pushing back everything else.

“It was a surprise,” Ottosen said. “It’s been a tough one. This long for such a small overall project, that’s usually not the norm. But we’re trying to work with it. Then we can get after it.”

Last year’s work went from the Keizer Rapids Park area east to the four-way stop sign at Windsor Island Road and included new curbs, drainage and sidewalks along that stretch. Ottosen said this year’s work on Chemawa would be split into two parts.

“Hopefully we can start early next week,” Ottosen said. “We’ll try to get it completed in the next three months. We’ll do curbs, drainage and sidewalks, then top it off with a nice lip of asphalt. We’ll go from Windsor Island first. We’ll do the south side (of Chemawa), then pick up the north side. We want to get